Fruit of the Spirit - Part 9 LOVE

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Friday, May 31, 2019

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Galatians 5:22-23

Today we come to the last part of our investigation into the nine-fold manifestation of the Fruit of the Spirit.  These nine characteristic traits are alive and functioning in the believer who offers him/herself fully to God’s care and leading.  So, why did we leave love until the end when it is the first on the list?  That’s a good question and has a great answer.  In the ancient world the most important thought came first and is summed-up in what follows.  For Paul, any description of what God is, does, thinks, or….well, loves are a representation of who God IS.  This concept is hard to get down in a few words, but the Apostle John did it better than anyone else:

…anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  1 John 4:8

Love, God’s character, is summed-up in that list of the fruit.  Granted, this is not the totality of God…we haven’t even scratched the surface about his omnipotent power, righteous judgment, omnipresence, or omniscience, let-alone his eternal being.  The vastness of this unseen God makes my head hurt when I try to entertain just the beginnings of understanding all of He who sits on Heaven’s throne.  He is the ancient One, unfathomable; no human can even continue to live if we were thrust into His presence.  But if we go to love, it gives us (at least) the starting point of understanding how God applies all His being to His creation.  It shows us what God wants to be in us, and what we can be like as dwellers together in His Kingdom.

To turn John’s phrase, anyone who loves knows God, and from that love spring all the wonders of joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, self-control, faithfulness, and patience.  And, in a life lived in love, which produces all the rest of that spiritual fruit, there is a resultant absence of selfishness, anger, greed, lust, laziness, envy, and pride, those seven deadly sins.  It is an absolute mathematical equation…as love produces fruit of the Spirit, sin, in all its association with death, darkness and evil, must scatter and die.

So, with no apology to Erich Segal’s Love Story and the heartbreak of Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal, love is not where you never have to say you’re sorry…love is all about knowing your transgressions bring on anger, violence, and a host of every kind of evil, destroying and rotting the fruit of God’s Spirit in you and others.  It is all about re-plowing the field of God’s vineyard in your life…saying you’re sorry, and receiving the reviving of forgiveness, the restoration of fruit-filled love!

For You Today

It’s time to put Hollywood back in their little camera boxes.  They’ve created a whole generational culture where love is a feeling, surrounded by photoshopped, background music and moments to remember.  They wouldn’t know God-love if it dropped from the camera-boom on their silly heads!

All that list of the fruit of God’s Spirit is yours when you choose to love.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Fruit of the Spirit - Part 8 SELF-CONTROL

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Thursday, May 30, 2019

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Galatians 5:22-23

I have learned to pay attention to Grandma.  Now, that certainly applies to the Grandma I live with, but it also reveres the tons of wisdom that flow from Grandma’s hearts everywhere.  My Mother’s Mom, Grandma Carrie, had a favorite expression that Solomon would’ve loved:  Enough is too much!

Over the years I have learned to decode this piece of wisdom that corresponds so well to the Godly advice of Scripture.  Now, it seems a contradiction that having enough isn’t right, but Grandma said it was too much.  The arguable point here is that our natural appetites for anything we like will always take us over the top if we get what we want. 

Consider Solomon’s advice on the matter:

Do you like honey?  Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!  

Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

Proverbs 25:16-17

Does that sound like Grandma to you?  Who can argue against those warnings?  My Dad would shout a loud “amen” here, especially to that honey thing.  During the Great Depression my Dad was a teenager.  His parent’s home was an apartment in New York, on the second floor, right over a neighborhood delicatessen.  The owner took a liking to my Dad, and every day handed him several samples of cheeses when he was coming or going. 

It was great, free cheese!  But after six months of the fabulous cheese giveaways enough became too much!  To the day he died my dad couldn’t be comfortable in the same room with cheese!

This brings us to the spiritual warning of too much cheese or anything else for which we would sacrifice moderation:

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Proverbs 25:28

The obvious reference here is a city or nation that lets its guard down becoming easy prey for the enemy.  If you’re going to remain free, the cost is to remain vigilant.  That means more than being tough to keep the bad guys out of your business, it also means taking care to guard your appetite for too much of any good thing, because it will make you easy prey for the chief enemy:

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

This advice from Grandma Carrie (by way of Solomon) about enough being too much is proved out in Scripture, even in Satan’s life.  Ultimately, his over-the-top appetite for “devouring” the spiritual life of God’s children will be his enough undoing.  That war against God that he loves so much will be his too much!

For You Today

Like a city without walls is hard to defend, so is your spirit without self-control.  So, pay careful attention to developing moderation and self-denial; you either rule your spirit or lose it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Fruit of the Spirit - Part 7 GENTLENESS

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Wednesday, May 29, 2019

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!                        Galatians 5:22-23

Gentleness is never to be confused with a lack of strength or resolve.  Rather it is just the opposite; gentleness is the strength to not react badly, but to receive others, faults and all.  There were more than a few times that must have pushed Jesus’ gentle nature to the limit.  The disciples could be fiercely loyal to Jesus, but they bordered on being spiritually bi-polar.  Simon Peter would see the divine in Christ one day and lie like a newly elected politician saving his hide the next day.  James and John loved Jesus but tried to leap-frog over their fellow disciples by asking Jesus to make them King no.2 and 3 when He got to the throne.  Of course, we all remember Judas’ kiss was a betrayal, not friendly at all!  Gentleness sees faults like these as teachable moments to bring health and strength into the lives of others; to bring out the best qualities, not scorch the ground with retribution.

But, sometimes bringing up those higher qualities may require a little heat.  When our youngest child, Carrie, was about 6 or 7 she was allowed to go to her friend, Amber’s house, just around the block from our place.  Carrie was a very cooperative child, always listening to Mom and Dad; but sometimes she would forget.  One such time she had been at Amber’s after school having a great time and she lost track of the time.  By the time she arrived back home the streetlights had already come on against the coming nightfall.  Carrie came skipping up our street in the approaching darkness, so carefree and happy, even though she was well-past the dusk curfew.  It was not until she reached our side door that she saw the grim reaper (me), standing, arms crossed, scowl strategically in-place on my face.  She looked up at her towering executioner and gulped:  I’m dead meat!

To this day I’m not at all sure how I managed to keep that stern look when my insides wanted to burst with laughter.  The good news is that our daughter endured the obligatory week’s grounding for missing her curfew with grace and contrition; lesson learned!

Now, this begs the question of how God is gentle, or can be described as gentle, when we experience such unhappy things sometimes.  It’s my conviction that the reason God doesn’t let us off the hook when we’ve lost track of who we are, and how we’re supposed to behave, is that sometimes we must go through the darkness before we see the light.  That may border on glib, or triteness, but it makes sense, nonetheless.  We learn best when we experience the consequences of our actions.  God may rescue us in the severest of consequences, because He doesn’t want us lost…but when we do dumb stuff, or trivial selfish things, we will often have to feel that isolation, that dead-meatness of the circumstance which we create. 

Mother was right after all, the bed you make is the one you will sleep in!

For You Today

God’s gentle ways will help us through our foolishness, and even our rebellion.  But, it’s a good thing to remember that he wants us to be that way towards the foolish and rebellious people in our lives as well.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Fruit of the Spirit - Part 6 PATIENCE

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Tuesday, May 28, 2019

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Galatians 5:22-23

There was once a fellow who, with his dad, farmed a little piece of land.  Several times a year they would load up the old ox-drawn cart with vegetables and go into the nearest city to sell their produce.  Except for their name and the patch of ground, father and son had little in common.  The old man believed in taking it easy.  The boy was usually in a hurry – the go-getter type.

One morning, bright and early, they hitched up the ox to the loaded cart and started on the long journey.  The son figured that if they walked faster, kept going all day and night, they’d make market by early the next morning.  So he kept prodding the ox with a stick, urging the beast to get a move on.  Take it easy, son, said the old man.  You’ll last longer.  But if we get to market ahead of the others, we’ll have a better chance of getting good prices, argued the son.  No reply.  Dad just pulled his hat down over his eyes and fell asleep on the seat.  Itchy and irritated, the young man kept goading the ox to walk faster.  His stubborn pace refused to change.

Four hours and four miles later down the road, they came to a little house.  The father woke up, smiled, and said, Here’s your uncle’s place.  Let’s stop in and say hello.  But we’ve lost an hour already, complained the hot shot.  Then a few more minutes won’t matter.  My brother and I live so close, yet we see each other so seldom, the father answered slowly.  The boy fidgeted and fumed while the two old men laughed and talked away almost an hour.  On the move again, the man took his turn leading the ox.  As they approached a fork in the road, the father led the ox to the right.  The left is the shorter way, said the son.  I know it, replied the old man, but this way is much prettier.  Have you no respect for time? the young man asked impatiently.  Oh, I respect it very much!  That’s why I like to use it to look at beauty and enjoy each moment to the fullest.

The winding path led through graceful meadows, wildflowers, and along a rippling stream – all of which the young man missed as he churned within, preoccupied and boiling with anxiety.  He didn’t even notice how lovely the sunset was that day.  Twilight found them in what looked like a huge, colorful garden.  The old man breathed in the aroma, listened to the bubbling brook, and pulled the ox to a halt.  Let’s sleep here, he sighed.  This is the last trip I’m taking with you, snapped the son.  You’re more interested in watching sunsets and smelling flowers than in making money!  Why, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said in a long time, smiled the dad.  A couple of minutes later he was snoring – as his boy glared back at the stars.  The night dragged slowly, the son was restless.

Before sunrise the young man hurriedly shook his father awake.  They hitched up and went on.  About a mile down the road they happened upon another farmer – a total stranger – trying to pull his cart out of a ditch.  Let’s give him a hand, whispered the old man.  And lose more time? the boy exploded.  Relax son.  You might be in a ditch sometime yourself.  We need to help others in need – don’t forget that.  The boy looked away in anger.

It was almost eight o’clock that morning by the time the other cart was back on the road.  Suddenly, a great flash split the sky.  What sounded like thunder followed.  Beyond the hills, the sky grew dark.  Looks like a big rain in the city, said the old man.  If we had hurried, we’d be almost sold out by now, grumbled his son.  Take it easy, you’ll last longer.  And you’ll enjoy life so much more, counseled the kind old gentleman.

It was late afternoon by the time they got to the hill overlooking the city.  They stopped and stared down at it for a long time.  Neither of them said a word.  Finally, the young man put his hand on his father’s shoulder and said, I see what you mean, Dad.  They turned their cart around and began to roll slowly away from what had once been the city of Hiroshima.^[2]

For You Today

No matter what you have been spending your time on in this life, the patient God of grace has offered to you this life handle, that whosoever will, may come to Him.  If you have discovered that you have been struggling to get through this life, and there are no handles for holding-on anymore, the Lord Jesus extends His hand to you.  Grab on!  He is patiently waiting.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[2] Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes, (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1998)